by Cat Johnson
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jace. And I only broke my ribs once or twice, thank you very much.” Tuck scowled.
Jace grinned and accepted the bottle Tuck handed him. “Once or twice, my sweet ass. You can’t seem to keep yourself out from under hoof. You’re too tall for a bull rider, if you ask me. You need to be small and quick like me. You should have stuck with team roping.”
Watching the two men bicker, Logan sipped his beer and stayed out of the fray. He wasn’t about to enter that debate. Bull riders were insane.
Sure, Logan had joined the army knowing there’d be times during his career he was going to be up against an enemy who wanted him dead, but to get on the back of a bucking bull knowing you were going to be thrown in the dirt every damn time? Even when you won? Nope. Not for him.
While Jace and Tuck continued to banter—something about which bull Jace drew last time he rode—motion out in the driveway caught Logan’s eye. He turned to watch through the window. A hot-as-hell woman in a short, black dress reached one long leg out of the car and stepped from behind the open passenger door. Even doing nothing but standing in the driveway, she was sexy enough to make a man take notice. Her blond hair and the family resemblance told him this must be Becca’s sister, Emma.
Logan glanced at Tuck and wondered how bad a friend he was that Tuck’s soon-to-be sister-in-law was giving him a hard-on. Just from his thinking about how the curves that dress accentuated so nicely would feel beneath his touch.
Imagine if he ever got his hands on her . . .
An older woman and man exited the front doors of the sedan and joined the blonde. They had to be Tuck’s new in-laws. Their presence should have diminished Logan’s amorous fantasies about Emma. It didn’t.
It seemed Emma had captured his attention and she wasn’t letting go. He managed to block her parents right out as he wondered what her hair would feel like against his cheek while he ran his tongue down her throat.
“Hey, Tuck. It looks like Emma’s here.” Jace came to stand next to Logan at the window. He blew a slow whistle. “Boy oh boy, is she looking good.”
The tone of Jace’s voice made Logan turn to get a good look at him. The man had a knowing expression on his face that didn’t sit well with him at all. “You know her?”
“Oh, yeah.” Jace dragged the two short words out to be suggestively long.
What the hell was that about? Logan’s brows rose. He turned to glance at Tuck.
“Emma was here with Becca the first time she came to Oklahoma for the job interview at OSU. You know, the night Becca and I met at the rodeo.”
Tuck had answered without Logan’s having to ask, but that sure as hell didn’t explain the rest. Such as why Jace was acting as if he and Emma had done more than just meet that night.
Those were details Logan was more than interested in having.
“Yeah, I remember you telling me about the rodeo.” But not that Jace and Becca’s hot sister from New York had had a little one-night rodeo of their own.
Of course, Jace liked to exaggerate. It didn’t matter if it was about conquering a bull or a woman. Logan had known the man for years through Tuck. Ever since the two had ridden on the rodeo circuit together before Tuck had enlisted in the army. If nothing else, he knew Jace could throw the shit with the best of them. It was very possible nothing at all had happened between Jace and Emma, except in Jace’s own overactive imagination.
Logan decided to run with that theory and see how things progressed. It was far better than the alternative—assuming Jace had a prior claim on this woman and having to back off. A lot could happen over a short period of time. Look at how one night between Tuck and Becca had changed both of their lives. Logan had an entire weekend and a wedding reception to work with. There’d be sentimental speeches and tears, music, and a fully stocked bar. Everything to put the partygoers—and Emma—in the mood for romance.
Not to mention Logan had Tuck on his side, pulling for him, putting in a good word. At least Tuck had better be on his side. Jace was Tuck’s friend, yes, but Logan was like a brother. Not to mention his boss and commanding officer. If it came right down to it, Logan would pull rank. Hell, he could order Tuck to put in a good word for him with Emma or else.
When leggy blondes with curves like Emma’s were involved, a man had to bend the rules.
How the hell long was it going to take Becca’s family to get inside so he could meet Emma officially? Logan glanced out the window again and noticed Tyler’s truck was now parked in the drive, as well. If people continued to arrive at this rate, it was about to get very crowded in the Jenkins’ house, but there was only one guest Logan was interested in now.
“We’re here. Now this party can get started.” A familiar voice brought Logan around as Tuck’s younger brother came through the door. “Sorry I’m late, bro. Somebody wasn’t ready when I got there.”
Tyler’s sister, Tara, followed him in. She delivered a backhanded smack to Tyler’s gut after shooting him a look over his comment. “Hey. I had to pack a lot of stuff for this weekend.”
“You sure as hell did. My truck was riding kind of low. Of course, that could be from you putting on some weight last semester.” Tyler grinned.
“I did not.” A punch this time rather than a slap had Tyler frowning and rubbing his shoulder where she’d hit him.
“It’s good to see you. Both of you. I’m glad you’re here.” Tuck stepped up to hug Tara. “Now quit the arguing. Becca’s parents and sister just got here. Don’t show them what heathens we are before the wedding. Okay?”
“Afraid she’ll want to call it off? Don’t worry, Tuck. I’ll be sweet as pie. I promise.” Tara’s attempt to appear sweet made her look more devil than angel.
She ignored Tuck’s burst of laughter at her declaration as she glanced at the others in the room. When her eyes reached Jace, standing and drinking his beer while wearing his usual amused grin, she scowled.
“Jace.”
“Tara.” Jace’s tone was as low and flat as hers had been.
Those two were like oil and water, and always had been. Most likely, they always would be. The only thing they had in common was their love of Tuck, and their inexplicable dislike of each other. Logan figured they were all lucky they’d left their greeting at a single word and that it hadn’t been accompanied by the usual string of insults.
Logan smiled. Some things never changed. Jace and Tara still fought like cats and dogs. The two younger Jenkins siblings still bickered, even at the age of—how old were they? Tuck had already said Tyler was twenty-four. Tara was two grades behind Tyler in school so she should be about twenty-one, or maybe twenty-two by now.
God, that made Logan feel old. He’d changed Tara’s diaper once or twice when she was a baby. He’d been seventeen years old and babysitting on a Saturday night instead of being out with his friends—at that time, changing a diaper full of baby shit was the dead last thing he wanted to do.
“Logan.” Tara moved across the room. She wrapped her arms around him and aimed a kiss at Logan’s mouth. He turned his head a fraction of an inch at the last minute. If he hadn’t, it would have been a full-on lip-lock.
What the hell was that? Her greeting to him was a far cry from the pouting, juvenile one she’d given Jace.
Logan still thought of Tara as a child, but pressed up against him as she was, from tits to thighs, it was obvious she was all grown up now, and she wanted him to know it. He cringed at his own thoughts—he didn’t even want to think of the word tits in relation to the girl he’d spent most of his life thinking of as a sister.
“Hi, Tara.” He pulled back, though her arms stayed around his neck.
“I’ve missed you. It’s so good to see you again.” Her face remained a little too close for his liking.
“Good to see you, too.” He took a step back until she was forced to drop her hold. “How have you been? How’s school going?”
“Great, but I can’t wait to graduate. You know, get o
n with my life. Get a job and my own place. I’m thinking about moving to Stillwater once I’ve gotten my degree. You like living there, right?”
“Sure. It’s a nice enough place.” He shrugged. Far better than a few places he’d endured while deployed, so he certainly couldn’t complain.
A wide smile bowed her lips. “Maybe I could come visit and you could show me around. You know, so I could get a feel for what it would be like to live there.”
As a single man going on forty years old, Logan knew damn well when a woman was flirting. The problem was this was not just any woman. This was Tara, the closest thing to a little sister he’d ever have. Not only was he almost old enough to be her father, but when he looked at her he still saw the sweet little toddler who used to hold his hand while they walked. She used to run to him crying when Tuck or Tyler or even Layne had been mean to her, or she’d fallen and scraped her knee.
He needed to nip this little crush in the bud and right quick. “I’m sure if you came to Stillwater, Becca would love to show her new sister-in-law around. She knows where all the good places are. I pretty much only go to the shooting range and the fast food joints right off campus.”
“I like to shoot. You taught me.” She kept her gaze leveled on his. “Remember how we’d line up empty pop cans on the fence as targets and see how many we could each knock off with the BB gun? I always beat Tyler.”
He’d obviously done too good a job as surrogate big brother. He’d created a tomboy with the determination of a pit bull. Though Tara sure didn’t dress like a tomboy any more. Gone was the old holey denim. In its place were fancy jeans with rhinestones on the back pockets.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t only Tara’s attire that had altered. She’d also been showing him a lot more attention the past few times they’d seen each other. In his blissful bubble of denial, he hadn’t noticed how much it had changed from sister-like devotion to that of a female on the prowl. He sure as hell noticed now. She was obviously fueled by a good dose of adult female hormones.
Logan glanced around for help and found it in the group walking through the door. “Oh, look. Becca’s family is here. I haven’t met them yet. As one of the groomsmen, I guess I should ask Tuck to introduce me. Don’t want to be rude.”
He didn’t wait for a response from Tara to make his escape. He downed the last slug of lukewarm beer en route to Tuck and hoped the introductions would keep him busy until Tara had moved on to something or someone else.
While he’d been fending off Tara, Logan had fallen behind in his number one pursuit of the evening—Emma. Just moments after she’d walked through the living room doorway, Jace had already zeroed in on her.
One thing was for sure—at least it wouldn’t be a boring evening. Not with the unwanted attention from a girl he thought of as a sister, and another man after the woman Logan had his eye on—who could have ever imagined this weekend would turn out to be so damn complicated?
Chapter Two
Becca squeezed Emma’s hand as they followed their parents through the doorway of the Jenkins living room. “I’m so happy you’re here.���
“Finally.” Emma sighed. “The one dress I’d put on didn’t look right, so I tried a few others I’d packed. I thought Dad’s head was going to pop off when I wasn’t ready the moment he wanted to leave.”
Her father knocking on the hotel room door every five minutes, tapping his foot and complaining they were going to be late, hadn’t made getting ready any easier or faster for Emma. Being a man, he couldn’t understand that, but Becca would, which was why Emma looked to her sister for commiseration over the trying ordeal.
“It doesn’t matter, because you’re here now and you look great.” Becca smiled.
“Thank you.” At least one member of their family appreciated all the effort Emma had put into getting ready for tonight’s party. She reached out and fixed a twisted strap on Becca’s dress, and then glanced at the people already gathered in the living room. “Small group. Are more coming?”
“Oh, yeah. Like two dozen more. Everyone’s not due for another hour or so.”
“Another hour?” Eyes open wide, Emma turned to stare at Becca. “Dad said—”
“I know.” Becca shook her head. “Believe me. I told Dad what time Tucker’s parents expected them, but you know Dad. If he’s not at least fifteen minutes early, he considers himself late. It doesn’t matter. Tuck’s friends are here early, too. It’s no big deal.”
It was a big deal because their father had stressed Emma to the point she was ready to rip her hair out. She should be used to him and his idiosyncrasies after thirty-plus years, but Emma still couldn’t help the sigh that came escaped her. “Is there wine?”
“Yes.” Becca laughed. “Did you have any doubt of that?”
“Uh, yeah. I did.” Emma wouldn’t say it and insult their hosts, but how could she know if Tucker’s parents were teetotalers or not? This was Oklahoma. What did a New Yorker know about Midwest traditions? Life in the heartland could be very different from the coasts.
“Relax, there’s plenty. I went to the liquor store myself. We set up a bar in the corner of the room. There’s champagne, white wine, and soda chilling in a cooler under the table. The red wine is out and open. Oh, and there’s Tucker’s favorite beer for him and the guys.”
The mention of alcohol and men brought a smile to Emma’s lips. “Then lead the way to the bar.” And to the cowboys.
“Gladly. As soon as we can slip past Mom and Dad.” Becca tilted a head toward the two sets of parents in front of them, blocking their path to the wine.
It seemed they were all stalled in the doorway as Tucker’s mother and father were in a deep discussion with the bride’s parents.
“How old did you say the building was?” Emma’s father asked Mr. Jenkins.
“Parts are from the 1800s. You can still see the original beams.” Tuck’s father gestured toward the ceiling and every member of the group glanced upward in unison.
Emma looked up as well, but she would have been much more appreciative of the structure if she had a glass of wine in her hand. She peered around the group of ceiling-gazers, who were apparently fascinated with the history of the architectural details. Over by the bar, she spied something far more interesting than two-hundred-year-old beams. “Becs, who’s that guy talking to Tucker?”
Her sister bobbed a bit to get a look. “That’s Logan, Tuck’s boss. Or commander or whatever.” Becca waved one hand in the air. “I still don’t have all that army lingo straight yet. I doubt I ever will.”
“That’s Logan?” Emma strained to get a better view of him past her father’s broad back.
“Yes. I told you about him. He grew up next door. Logan’s younger brother and Tucker were in the same class in school. Logan’s parents still live there. They should be here any minute, but his brother couldn’t make it.”
“Yeah, you told me about Logan, but you didn’t tell me he was so cute.” Emma had envisioned some stodgy old military man as Tucker’s commanding officer, like a kind of General Patton-type of character. Not this tall, dark, and handsome hottie.
“Sorry. I didn’t realize any time I mentioned a male to you I had to include a cuteness rating.”
Emma didn’t bother to look at her sister. She didn’t need to. The tone of that comment told her Becca was being a smart ass. Instead, Emma kept her eyes on the newest object of her interest. “Well, now you know.”
“What should we go by, do you think? A scale of one to ten perhaps?” Becca asked.
“Is he single?” Ignoring the sarcasm in Becca’s voice, Emma shifted a bit farther to better peer around her dad, but not so far that Logan, or anyone else, would notice her staring.
“Yes, he’s single.”
“Never been married?” Emma took note that Logan had maybe an inch or two on Tucker, who was no slouch himself in the height department. That probably put Logan at just over six foot. Nice. Emma liked a man tall enough she didn’t have to
be afraid to wear heels. A man big and strong so a woman could feel safe and really held while in his arms.
“Not that I know of.”
“Hmm. At his age, that could mean he has commitment issues.” Or that he was gay, but Emma didn’t get that vibe from him. Maybe he was just a player, sailing around the world with the military. A different woman in every port. Though he was in the army, not the navy.
“Jeez, Emma. Do you have to judge every man you meet on his marriage potential?”
Emma drew back at that insulting statement from her sister. “Forgive me, Miss About-to-Get-Married. I’m sorry it bothers you that I want a social life of my own.”
“Forgive you? Are you serious? Ha! I could say the same thing.” Becca’s bitching interrupted Emma’s fantasies about Logan.
Emma frowned. Since she hadn’t been paying all that much attention to her sister while she’d been drooling over the hot military man in the room and wondering what was wrong with him that he was still available, Emma was confused. “What are you talking about? You could say the same thing about what?”
“I could say forgive me for assuming that if you were going to be interested in any man here this weekend, it would be Jace.” Becca threw out the name of the one man Emma had refused to discuss since that fateful night at the rodeo last July.
At least Becca had kept her voice down to a low whisper so the whole room wouldn’t hear. Particularly the man in question, whom Emma could see was already there. The parent blockage worked both ways, and Jace hadn’t been able to get to her from his position across the room. That didn’t stop him from continuing to glance and smile in her direction as she ignored him and pretended she didn’t notice.
“Humph. We’ll have to see about Jace.” Emma wouldn’t admit it to Becca, but she couldn’t deny it to herself—one big reason she’d taken so much time getting ready today was because she knew she’d be seeing Jace again. Not that she was still interested in him. Her concern over her appearance was strictly to let him know what he’d missed out on last year.